Geithner just admitted that the bonus loophole came from his department. But just yesterday, President Obama said in defense of the Treasury secretary, “Understand that Tim Geithner didn’t draft these contracts with AIG.”

And then this:

Asked how he hoped to quell public anger over the bonuses, [Obama] said, “I don’t want to quell anger, what I want to do is channel anger in a constructive way.”

Well, the anger is manifest and there seems little doubt about how to channel it most constructively. Yet, Obama has staked everything on his defense of the target of the anger. It’s hard to see how this cognitive, and political, dissonance will be resolved.